Nature in all it's glory.

Recently we (my husband and myself), have been taking different routes into our city centre. We're lucky enough to be able to walk there, mainly because we live about a mile outside Chester city center, which is where we live. The past few weekends, we've taken the old railway walkway, which we've never tried before and it's made a nice change not to have any traffic (other than bicycles) nearby. It's made me appreciate how green our surroundings are compared to quite a few towns and cities we've visited, and also given me an another place to forage for edible goodies, as we've found quite a few wild blackberry bushes along the walkway. I must remember to take a bag with me next time we go along there, an essential for any forager!

This has, as usual, led me on to this weeks Craft Britannia Etsy team, shop of the week. This week is the turn of Laura, of Lauras Jewellery. Laura's shop is crammed full of her handmade jewellery, from beautiful butterfly and nature inspired pieces, to quirky Alice in wonderland and Wizard of Oz jewellery. I've decided to feature her butterfly and bird jewellery, mainly because of my recent walks to, and around our lovely green walled city. 


One of Laura's beautiful butterfly themed pieces, I especially love the vivid blue colour of the butterfly against the backing paper.

Blue butterfly cameo necklace.

This necklace is another of my favorites, it reminds me of the butterflies I used to see in my parent's garden years ago. Sadly, their numbers seem to be declining and in Chester we're lucky to see a few each year now.

Wooden butterfly necklace.

This sweet necklace has to be my favorite, I love budgies and especially love vintage images of them.

Budgie necklace.

I hope you've enjoyed this weeks feature shop and please take time to
Click to visit Laura's Etsy shop. And click on the link to read her Craft Britannia interview on the team blog

That's all for now.

Something old, something new...

something borrowed, something blue and a sixpence for your shoe.

This week's Craft Britannia Etsy shop of the week is Steph of Six Skeins.
I had a leisurely wander around Steph's shop today and saw that amongst her other handmade goodies and yarn, she had made some items for weddings.
This immediately made me think of my eldest niece and her wedding, which is at the end of this year.

It's a really special to have something handmade for a wedding, it's more personal than something just 'bought' from a shopand is a lovely reminder of the person who gave it to you, as well as a reminder of the day itself.

On to reviewing Six Skeins, Steph's Etsy shop!
Steph's handmade blue beaded garter, would be a beautiful surprise gift for a bride,
It's been crochet with blue and white silk beaded yarn and has co-ordinating satin ribbon ties, with 4 small white organza rose decorations, and it would be just the thing for the something new and something blue off the bride's list!

Blue beaded wedding garter.

And if the bride already has something blue, how about this garter?
Steph made this one from beautiful fine ivory 100% silk yarn, and she incorporated over 140 tiny glass seed beads in a pink/amber colourway around the lower edge.
The garter is threaded with pretty pastel hand-dyed ribbon, which I think gives it a vintage feel.

Beautiful cream beaded wedding garter

Steph's garters are presented in a keepsake gift box, so they can be kept as a memory of the bride's special wedding day. All garters can be custom-made to fit, just contact Steph to arrange the details.


For wedding accessories, she also has these handmade items, the first is a lovely crochet and beaded necklace, which I could see being worn at a very boho style wedding.

Handmade crochet bead necklace.

This scarf would be gorgeous to wear at a wedding, or any special occasion and the cream yarn would go with so many colours. It's been crocheted using fine pure silk cream yarn with mother of pearl chip edging and threaded with cream silk ribbons.

Crochet scarf with mother of pearl edge.

Of course Steph's items aren't just for weddings, you could wear them for any occasion where you want to feel a bit special and her shop stocks so much more than wedding items!

I hope you've enjoyed this weeks post?
On a more personal note, the tax elves did pay a small visit last week, and they lent a hand with my accounts, so the dreaded paperwork is nearly all done now (phew!).


You can visit Steph's Etsy shop here.
And the full Craft Britannia interview is on the CB blog here.

Appreciate all the handmade love you're given.

This weeks Craft Britannia shop of the week has got me reminiscing, about how we don't always appreciate how much hard work and love goes into the handmade gifts and things we had made for us when we were younger (and when we're older too!)

My mom was an avid knitter, where she got the time to knit I have no idea, she always seemed to be 'on the go', working part time when I started school, keeping house, looking after me, my dad and brother. She must have squeezed in an hour or so each evening after we were in bed.

I still remember all the knitted jumpers, cardigans and toys she made me but it's only after I took up knitting myself that I realized how much hard work and love went into each stitch.

Which brings me onto this week's SOTW, which is Bebby Jumpers. 

I'm not usually one for oooh-iing and aaahhh-ing at babies or children, (well, OK I'm willing to admit I do coo over the occasional baby or child). So when I learned that this week I would be featuring a children's clothes shop, I thought, "well I'm not too sure where this post will end up". But on taking a closer look at Bebby's shop it made me think of my mom and all the lovely things she made me over the years. 

 

Bebby's babies and children's clothes look so beautifully made and her designs look like traditional vintage patterns that I remember from my childhood but they are still very much in fashion today, I think this is mainly because of her use of texture and colour. 

I especially like the designs I've featured here and wish I had nieces and nephews young enough to wear her beautiful handknits.

Beautiful yellow bunny cardigan.

 

Child's handknit aran sweater

 

Girl's handknit jacket with pixie hood.

A beautiful gift for a winter birthday or for Christmas.

Bebby Jumper's lovely shop can be found here on Etsy.

And to read more about Bebby and her beautiful handknit children's clothes and accessories, please visit the Craft Britannia blog  http://craftbritannia.com/2012/07/22/bebbyjumpers/

I hope you'll take the time to pay her a visit, especially if you have any little ones in the family and are looking for beautifully handknits for them.

I need a break and this is just the excuse!

I've been busy the past few days, trying to de-clutter and sort out my accounts (and I haven't finished yet!). So I thought I'd take a break from it and do this weeks Craft Britannia Etsy team's 'shop of the week'.

This week's SOTW is the lovely Erica Price of Erika Price Designs. Reading her interview on the team blog made me realise how much energy some people have and give to their lives. Erika's daily life seems like a blur of activity and creativity.

Erika not only makes jewellery but is also a silversmith and makes her own really beautiful glass beads and I've only shown a small sample of her work here.

Crystal Union Jack pendant.

Matching crystal Union Jack friendship bracelet.

Handmade silver and ruby pendant

Handmade glass bead earrings.

I've saved my favorite until last, these have to be the most beautiful handmade beads I've ever seen (and as I used to make a lot of earrings, I've seen quite a few!)

I love the delicate blossom patterns inside the glass beads and to get two beads made to match is quite amazing!

These have to be my favorite. Beautiful handmade glass bead earrings.

You can visit Erika's shop here and her Craft Britannia interview is here


That's all for today, I really hope you'll go and read Erika's interview and visit her shop, both are well worth a visit.

I suppose I'd better make another cuppa and get back to those accounts, sadly the accounts elves must be on holiday in our area, or I'd wake up and find them magically done for me!

Blue Monday

Yes it's grey skies and more grey skies here today and I'm feeling a tiny bit blue with lack of sun (although we did get a peep from it yesterday). The view out of the window from where I sit, is all grey sky but is also filled with the view of large green trees, the silver birch and pear tree at the bottom of our garden, along with the apple tree from next door and yet more trees at the bottom of the garden, that our garden joins with.
It's usually quiet and peaceful outside and I really love the view, but the builders from next door are using a pipe / brick cutting tool again, so I'm wishing I was somewhere else today - maybe by the sea, even on a grey miserable day like today a visit to the seaside can be really peaceful!

Since I'm having a bit of a blue (lack of sun and too much noise) day, and wishing I was somewhere else, I thought I'd do this weeks SOTW early. This weeks Craft Britannia Etsy team's shop of the week is Carrie from Phoenvix, her shop stocks her handmade jewellery and her handmade ACEO cards, which are both pretty and affordable.
I went to take a look at Carrie's jewellery, these pieces made me feel like I was by the sea, very peaceful and relaxed. So I've chosen to feature some of her lovely blue and green pieces today, rather than her other jewellery or ACEO cards.

Chunky green glass bead bracelet

  

This lovely chunky bracelet reminds me of the sea on a glorious sunny day.

Shell pendant with chain and bead necklace.

A more delicate piece, which also reminds me of the sea, beaches and little sailing boats.

Blue green stretch elastic bracelet

Another bracelet that reminds me of the seaside, looking at this , I can imagine myself poking about in rock pools like I did as a child, something I haven't done in a very long time.


I really hope you'll take the time to visit Carrie's shop and also pop over to the Craft Britannia blog to read her interview.


That's all for today and fingers crossed the builders next door go home early so I can get some peace and quiet! Meanwhile, I'll just sit and daydream about being on a quiet and secluded beach overlooking the sea.

Two for the price of one!

Hello again! This week is a bumper edition of the Etsy Craft Britannia team's 'shop of the week', as it features not one but two shops.

Both Etsy shops are run by our CB team member Nadine. Her first shop is called muntjac vintage, which as the name suggests, sells vintage goodies.

These two lovely sets caught my eye, so I had to feature them. The ducks look as if they could have just been bought from a modern ceramics shop and the Russian nesting dolls are a popular theme at the moment, wouldn't it be lovely to own a set of these vintage nesting dolls?

Set of beautiful vintage ducks

Vintage, painted Matryoshka Russian Nesting Dolls

Nadine's second shop is called imynda and features her handmade crochet items. She makes sweet crochet animal brooches, magnets, accessories and jewellery. I love her sweet panda and lion magnets and her brooches are really adorable.

Sweet crochet panda magnet

cheery crochet lion magnet

I hope you'll take the time to visit Nadine's shops, both are worth a look!
To read Nadine's interview on the Craft Britannia blog click here

Nadine's muntjac vintage shop can be found here and her imynda handmade shop can be found here

That's all for today and happy crafting to my readers!

Are you joining us for the next CRAFTfest events?

The lovely folk on the Creative Connections website have been tweeting and blogging like crazy for the past few days. This is because, the next CRAFTfest event dates have been posted and they are now taking booking for stalls. This time I booked both the September and November events, which are £5.00 for each event and I'm really excited to be doing CRAFTfest again.

As I've probably mentioned on an earlier post, I really enjoyed the last event and made lots of new crafty friends too. It's a really good way of getting your craft and art known outside your own circle of crafters and at £5 for a whole week and even if you don't make a huge number of sales from the event, I think it's excellent value. You do have to be ready to promote your stall though (and hopefully other peoples stalls too) but it's really worth all the effort.  The CRAFTfest team also work really really hard to promote the stallholders and they are a really friendly bunch of people too.

Oh and just to mention, in case you're not familiar with how CRAFTfest works, you link whichever items you have for sale on Etsy, Folksy or any other Internet site to your CRAFTfest stall. You upload a photo for each item, add a description and then when people look at your virtual stall, they can link directly to the item they want to buy.

If you don't want a stall yourself, please pencil the dates of both events in your diary and then pop over to see us all and to check out all the fantastic handmade goodies people are promoting and selling.  It's a perfect place to stock up on some gifts before Christmas (yes I know I mentioned the dreaded C word, but you can never get organized too early!)

The dates of the events are as follows:

Autumn event - 1st to 8th September &

The Christmas event is being held - 24th November to 1st December.

If you would like to know more, or are interested in having as stall for one or both events, please click here to go to the CRAFTfest events page. If you do want a stall you will need to be a member of Creative Connections first and if you have any questions, there's always someone ready and willing to help.

More later this week and happy crafting everyone! 

Slightly saucy Tuesday.

Craft Britannia's shop of the week this time is Sarah of Red Ribbon. Her handmade pretties are a little different to those featured previously, not only does Laura make lovely and very glamerous hats and headpieces, she also caters for the more adventurous person, in that she also makes and sells fire eating equipment, stilts and burlesque accessories.
 

A very elegant black and white cocktail hat.

Queen of hearts hat.

Blue swallow cocktail hat.

Interchangeable burlesque pasties

Sarah also offers gift vouchers, including the one below, which would be a fun gift for the more adventurous girl!

 Burlesque tassel twirling voucher.

Sarah's interview can be found here at the Craft Britannia blog and is a very interesting read, not least because together with her Etsy shop, Sarah is also a Circus performer.

Red Ribbons, Sarah's Etsy shop can be found here and I hope you enjoy having a browse around.

Inspired by nature.

Happy Friday everyone! The week has flown by again, mainly due to being knee deep in my accounts. It feels like this week has slipped by without me even noticing it.

We've reached number 17 in Craft Britannia's shop of the week, where does the time go?
This time is Laura of KitzieG and her gorgeous nature inspired creations.
Her shop is chock full of coordinated cards, magnets, bunting and lots more and all inspired by nature. Her beautiful items are so well coordinated, that you could buy a couple of sets of something and still mix and match them together.

These are the first things that caught my eye, a set of her beautiful harvest garden magnets.

 which you can find here.

Anyone reading my earlier posts might know that I have a love of bunting, this summer pastel bunting is a steal at 30% off in Laura's shop.

Click here to find this lovely bunting.

And these coordinating cards are just beautiful, I love how all the colours are bright but muted at the same time.

the link to her lovely card set.

To visit Laura's shop please click the link here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/KitzieG

And you can read Laura's interview on the Craft Britannia blog here.

Merry Go Round UK

This week's Craft Britannia's shop of the week on Etsy, is Merry Go Round UK.

Julia, who is the face behind the name, makes a lovely selection of goodies, such as crochet mug cozies, bunting and hair clips. Other items in her shop include button magnets, like the red, white and blue ones below and also decorative micro wreaths.

For the full range in Julia's shop, please clock on the link here

Red white and blue button magnets

Red white and blue micro wreath

Pastel micro wreaths

Peach, green and yellow crochet bunting

    

My favorite has to be the beautiful crochet bunting above, it wouldn't look out of place in a photo shoot in Molly Makes magazine and would be perfect for a young girls room or a garden picnic or party.


To read Julia's full interview on the Craft Britannia's team blog, please go here

That's all for today, hope you enjoy browsing in Julia's lovely shop.

End of the week & a special offer!

Hello again!

I've been really busy this week, added a few more handmade goodies to my Etsy shop and I've also been tweaking photos and promoting CRAFTfest like mad on Twitter.

A quick peek at a few of my new goodies. I've had a lot of positive comments about my new brooches.

handmade freemotion applique bird brooch

handmade freemotion applique owl brooch

another of my handmade freemotion applique owl brooches

 

 

While I'm here, I thought I'd also mention that it's the final day of the CRAFTfest online fair tomorrow (Saturday 16th June). To mark the end of our fab week, I've decided to hold a freebie offer in my Etsy shop. The offer is only for CRAFTfest buyers and for readers of this blog.


The offer is as follows, spend £10.00 or more and you will receive a lovely free surprise handmade gift. Spend £30.00 or more and receive two free surprise handmade gifts. All gifts will be handmade by myself and the same lovely quality as shown in my shop.

Just click the link here to go straight to my CRAFTfest stall. From there you can go directly to any item in Etsy that I've listed on my stall. When you make your purchase from my Etsy shop, If you go via the CRAFtfest website, leave a note saying #CRAFTfest freebie or #Blogger freebie if you have visited here first. It's as simple as that.

Just to add that Etsy.com are having some 'downtime' for maintenance from 7am GMT tomorrow (Saturday). Although you won't be able to access Etsy while they are tweaking it, it will be open again later in the day.It's a bit frustrating to UK Etsy sellers but there isn't anything we can do about it.

That's it for now, I'll be popping back over the weekend to add the Craft Britannia shop of the week post! 

Time for a long relaxing soak...

  .... with last weeks Craft Britannia shop of the week, which is the Natural Bathing Co.
I'm a little bit late this week, due to the craft fair I did in Cheadle (which was pretty fab & I'll be doing a review very soon!)

Onto the Natural Bathing co and her indulgent treats!

The bath treats she makes and sells in her Etsy shop look gorgeous and I really want to try some of her soaps and lip balms, which I think are ideal for any age or time of year.

                       For a relaxing bath, try her   Lavender & amber bath bomb
                       Lavender is one of my favorite fragrances, especially for a long
                       soak in the bath.

         Sandalwood & vanilla soap this sounds like the type of fragrance my DH likes!

                      Very exotic and such a lovely colour, try her Dragonsblood soap

       I'm very tempted by this Ginger lip balm & it sounds just the thing to use
       if you're a little bit 'under the weather'.

To read the full interview, please go to the Craft Britannia blog.
You can visit the Natural bathing co shop here  (it's well worth a peek if you need a pampering session or quick gift!)
   
          

Just a quick ramble to say that next time, I'll be featuring Craft Britannia's team member Merry Go round UK. Which I'll try my best to post before the end of this week. I'm still frantically trying to catch up with myself, as it was 'all go' last week with my craft fair preparations. My craft room looks like it's been ransacked by a hoard of hyperactive crafters and I have my remaining stock to list on Etsy by Wednesday as I'm also taking part in CRAFTfest, the online event (which has trended on Twitter and had over 30,000 views so far (and it's only Monday!).

CRAFTfest June 2012

                                              
                                                           

If you want to check out the stalls (over 175 of them), please click on the link to the Creative Connections website HERE. Then it's just a matter of clicking on the blue CRAFTfest icon for the section you'd like to view, and all the stalls are accessible from there.

Happy browsing (and hopefully shopping!) 
Katie

Spinning in a world of yarn!

       This week's Craft Britannia Etsy team shop of the week is Spinning Streak.

 If you want hand knitted goodies, or some lovely hand dyed and destash yarn for your own stash, then Spinning Streak's Etsy shop is a good place to start.

Spinning also makes some gorgeous hand knitted items, like the tea cozy below, which I love for it's mix of colours and textures.

One of Spinning Streak's gorgeous chunky textured cozies.

Some of her beautiful hand spun and hand dyed yarn.

Spinning also knits some beautiful hats. I have my eye on a couple of her slouch

beanies, perfect for my countryside foraging sessions, or even bad hair days!

To read all about Spinning Streak and her work, please visit the Craft Britannia's SOTW blog post for her interview.

I'm not sure who's going to be the next SOTW as we've had a slight re-shuffle around, due to someone being on holiday when it was their turn. It was my last week, and if by any chance you'd like to read my interview and know more about me and my small world, please click here visit the Craft Britannia blog.

I'd just like to add a huge thank you, to everyone on the Craft Britannia team on Etsy. All their hard work made my turn at shop of the week really enjoyable and I felt very spoiled getting all the attention.